Unusual: Full Court to Hear Case Against Obama Clean Power Plan

May 19, 2016

We’ve written plenty about President Obama’s draconian, so-called “Clean Power Plan” (see our stories here). In a nutshell, Obama and his servile Environmental Protection Agency are attempting a massive federal takeover in how electricity gets generated–by requiring more electricity is produced by so-called renewable sources. They’re doing it through limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power generating plants. It puts coal out of business completely. But the dirty little secret is that Obama is also taking aim at natural gas too (see Obama Stabs Natural Gas Electric Plants in Clean Power Plan). More than half of the states have joined together to to stop the plan by filing a lawsuit. In a surprise move, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the EPA from implementing the plan until the lawsuit brought by the states gets a full airing (see Supreme Court Shocker – Justices Halt Obama’s Clean Power Plan). The first step in the process of getting that airing happens at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In another move that surprised everyone, the DC District Court on Monday announced that the full court (9 of 11 justices) will hear the case and not the normal three-judge panel. Typically you start with three judges, and any decision can be appealed to the full court (which typically gets denied), and from there it goes to the U.S. Supreme Court. The DC court is removing a step so the process goes faster. Is that good (for those of us who believe this is unconstitutional), or bad? Depends on the news source you read…